This excerpt from the article “Common Mistakes by New Authors,” by Irene Goodman of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, appeared in the September 2010 issue of Romance Writer Report (RWR) published by Romance Writers of America:

“It’s always sad when an earnest author spends years working on something that absolutely no one is interested in except a few geeks or hobbyists. Let’s say you want to write historical fiction. You need to understand that unless you are writing something very literary and high quality, you must pick a marquee name. If you fall madly in love with the life story of an obscure Norwegian king, please don’t think that you are going to convince the world to love it, too. Commercial historical fiction is very female-driven. Even if the Norwegian king had some kind of interesting hook or quality to him, readers are more likely to be interested in the queen.”

At the time, I wondered if the jab could possibly be aimed at me since my book “A Prince of Norway” was scheduled to release soon ~ and I had been blogging about it. In the event that it was, here is the follow-up to that article:

In July 2012, Romance Writers of America’s Board voted to allow self-publishing authors to achieve PAN status (Published Author Network) if they earned $5,000 in royalties off at least ONE title.

I have. I applied. I was immediately granted PAN status ~ the first author in Arizona to do so. And the book that got me there?

Brander Hansen lost his hearing at age seven, his inheritance at twenty-three. Furious at his father’s betrayal, Brander leaves home to make his way as Lord Olsen, a ‘discreet gentleman of discovery’ in 1720 Christiania, Norway. He intends to gain his own estate and begins buying the debt markers on Kildahlshus.

Baroness Regin Kildahl’s husband has gambled away her estate and sunk to more dangerous habits. She writes to Lord Olsen soliciting his help saving both her husband and her home. When her husband dies, Regin offers herself and her title to anyone who will redeem his gambling debts, unaware of Brander’s plan and circumventing his efforts.

The Hansen heir accepts her offer and hires Lord Olsen to deliver his bride. Brander’s choices are clear: give the widow and her estate to his younger brother, or claim them both as his own. But who would accept a deaf husband?